Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Heavy fighting in Paranthan, Kilinochchi

Heavy fighting has been raging in Paranthan and Kilinochchi regions in north where both the SLA and the LTTE has suffered heavy casualties. The army lost around 100 soldiers in Kilinochchi and Paranthan fighting yesterday - 80 soldiers were killed and another 24 have gone missing. Total SLA casualty figures for the past two days stand at around 145 soldiers killed and further 300 being wounded. This includes casualties incurred from the Kilali offensive.

Bulk of the SLA casualties on Kilali operation were caused by artillery fire which rained on advancing troops. On Paranthan and Kilinochchi fronts however, close quarters fighting has been going. Despite heavy counterattacks by elite cadres, LTTE’s Paranthan line remains breached in several different locations. Tigers have also lost a good number of experienced cadres in these operations. Military Intelligence estimates LTTE casualty figures to be over 175 (this figure does not include casualties caused by 15+ air sorties carried out by SLAF).

Although the resistance is fierce and the casualty figures are higher, SLA has no intention of stopping the offensives. Some pro LTTE media have already declared the SLA operations have been ‘repulsed’. On the contrary, more large battles of similar scale are to be expected with LTTE fighting for its very own survival.

suppose these sorta casualty numbers were somewhat expected in latter stages of peelam warIV...lpte will have no choice but to standup and fight and with the amount of time they had to prepare for these it aint gonna be easy for sldf to dislodge them from their positions...It's sad that so many brave sons of the motherland had to lay their lives down to get rid of this lpte cancer..

DefNetyep...SLA child soldier story was a real joke :)I mean c'mon... tamilnet should at least give some respect to those morons who come there for "edible" info to feel good about themselves and fake peelam struggle :)

I said in my last post:The Sri Lankan government's stinky cat is out of the bag!!The long lingered suspicions about the SLA recruiting and employing child soldiers in war has now been confirmed and it is official now!The LTTE have released a photo of a poor Sinhala child soldier who met his demise in Kilinochchi in the latest battle.My thoughts are with the poor Sinhala parents who lost their children to the predatory SLA and GOSL. I wondered why everybody thought Mahinda Chinthanaya was so 'childish', now I know!! How sad!

DN Responds:That whole 'Army child soldier' claim is a little bit embarrassing. It just shows the amount of desperation among every LTTE element, including pro LTTE media. Should have done better.

Well, I am surprised that the DN says it is a LITTLE embarrassing. I think it is hugely embarrassing for the SLA and GOSL and obviously the LTTE will pick on it. Saying that the LTTE are desperate because they brought this truth out to the world is really ignominious of DN.I agree on one thing though; They (The SLA) should have done better.

The Sri Lankan forces have suffered major losses at the hands of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on a single day of fighting in the North.

Tuesday December 16th turned out to be a “Black Tuesday” for the armed forces as they incurred around 650 casualties in fighting against the LTTE in both the Northern mainland of Wanni as well as the Jaffna peninsula.

Tuesday is the day of Mars regarded as the God of war in Greek mythology.

According to informed defence ministry sources who want to remainin anonymous for obvious reasons , about 170 soldiers were killed and 480 security personnel were injured.

The sources however said about 300 of injured personnel had sustained minor injuries and are classified as “walking wounded”.

Official pronouncements have placed army casualties at a very low number not exceeding three digits.

Likewise the official government position was that about 120 tigers were killed and 250 injured.

The LTTE however reportedly lost around 70 cadres. The figures for injury are not known.

The armed forces launched a co-ordinated attack on LTTE positions in the peninsula and mainland before dawn on December 16th.

Soldiers of 53 division broke out from Kilaly in the Jaffna peninsula and targeted the LTTE’s second line of defence along the Kilaly – Eluthumadduvaal axis.

The army had demolished the LTTE first line of defence in fighting some days ago.

After fierce fighting throughout the day the soldiers withdrew without realising their objective.

The Army lost more than 40 men in the fighting within the peninsula while the LTTE lost around 25. Around 160 soldiers were injured.

Simultaneous to the Kilaly assault within the peninsula soldiers of the 57 and 58 divisions also launched a four – pronged operation.

Soldiers moved out from Kunchuparanthan on the Paranthan – Poonagary road towards Paranthan on the A – 9 highway.

In a second move soldiers broke out from Pulikkulam and moved towards Kilinochchi.

In a third manoeuvre soldiers moved from Malaiyaalapuram towards Kilinochchi.

In the fourth move soldiers broke out from Thirumurugandy on the A – 9 and tried to reach Iranaimadhu.

Though fighting on four fronts the soldiers had a common obstacle to surmount.

This was the 18 km long earthbund constructed by the LTTE to strengthen defences around Kilinochchi and Paranthan.

The “L” shaped bund extended from Kunchuparanthan to the west of Paranthan to Iranaimadhu to the south of Kilinochchi.

After a day of fighting the soldiers managed to seize and hold about 5 km of the earth bund in the areas south of Adamban.

The soldiers however incurred heavy losses in the attempt with about more than 130 being killed and around 320 getting injured.

A 5-month-old child and a 25-year-old male were killed and 13 other refugees including three children were wounded Wednesday when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) fighter jets bombed refugee settlements in Vaddakkachchi four times on each sorties bombing the refugees twice. The SLAF bombardment on civilian targets comes in the wake of high casualties to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in its latest offensive push in Kilinochchi and Jaffna frontiers. The second attack was reported 250 meters near the hospital in Vaddakkachchi. Civilians in Vanni interpreted the indiscriminate attacks which were repeatedly carried out on displaced peoples settlements as collective punishment by the Sri Lankan forces that have suffered heavy casualties in the battlefront.Medical sources identified the 5-month-old child killed in the indiscriminate bombardment on refugee settlement as Rajithan Ravishankar. The male killed in the bombardment was identified as Jeyasundraram Selvaratnam.

The first attack took place at 7:30 a.m. on Hudson Road in Vaddakkachchi. Two children were wounded in the second attack near the hospital in Vaddakkachchi at 10:00 a.m. One child 10-year-old Midhushan Sriranjan had his leg amputated at the hospital and his 8-year-old sister Sinthuja Sriranjan was seriously wounded in her stomach.

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has also intensified artillery attacks targeting civilian settlements in Vaddakkachchi Oddisuddaan and Mulliyavalai in the south of Mullaiththeevu district in the recent days.

On Monday artillery shells hit Mullaiththeevu General hospital causing minor injuries to two patients according to Medical Superintendent of the hospital Dr. V. Shanmugarajah. Many patients and staff in a nearby ward narrowly escaped from the blast that destroyed part of the building and the medical equipment.

Yes, please. LTTE has not had even one successful large counter-offensive since Pakistan shipped us MBRLs eight years ago and the LTTE "waves" and dreams were cut down outside Jaffna. Since then these "human waves" have only resulted in catastrophic LTTE casualties, so please, do.

Think about Tamils (your bothers & sister) living in VP’s (Vesha Pakaya) area, there are living in a hell, very soon SRI LANKAN forces will liberate them nobody can stop that, you can enjoy this blog until that.

Troops of the Army 57 Division and the Task Force 1 secured the LTTE built earth bund cum ditch in the West Paranthan and Northwest of Kilinochchi completely by this afternoon (Dec 17), defence sources said.

According to the sources fierce battle commenced last morning (Dec 16) between troops and the terrorists lasted until this morning as troops finally thwarted the LTTE's counter offensive. During the subsequent search operation launched in the area troops found 15 bodies of LTTE cadres along with large quantity of arms and ammo, the sources added.

Since the LTTE failed to retake the bund the fall of Kilinochchi is now inevitable. But hopefully VP will continue to send his "elites" to face the tanks and MBRLs on the open grounds. Maybe they can build a "meat wall".

DN u are #1 mate, all the way to the bestflipping the reality by giving the partial reality and turn the reality in to BS by adding some info into it.. lol.. keep it , all i wanted from u , keep u'r singala rascist people happy :), thats what we want,

because we cannot loose this free fertilizers. not you, but your commander , army leader, the one and great sarath fonseka's the god to the singala soldiers , he gave some infinite # of tigers death tolls which cannot even beleive that how much tamil people lived in srilanka ..

again please make sure u keep pleaseing u'r fans, including me by giving some REALity thank you :)

btw the child soldier thingy... its just BS by the Tamilnet.. just dont beleive it.. :)

i hope, u would do the same to the singala soldiers to keep them happy..

lol Gringo,, Who cried, did u really read my post, is there any where seems to be crying lol, u are funny, seems like u are crying now so please. stop , because i cant take a another animal crys, because u people are proud that u born to the incest dont u !! lion and human born creatures

For a vibrant democracy independently functioning judicial, executive and legislative branches are prime important. In our case executive and legislative branches were always fucking the things up. But, relatively judiciary was left independent (even now). For their part judiciary was minding it’s own business according to the constitution. But it was deviating from this policy for some time now.Governments do idiotic things such as this hedging deal. But it doesn’t mean the judiciary can decide tax ratios. Decreasing the gas prices is very popular. But it is none of their business. If the people do not like their government they will send it home next time. (But if certain people in the government are corrupt then of course judiciary can hop in and screw them). We discussed this topic earlier. Many did not like my comments on this. Now the time has come. We may see many untoward incidents with bad consequences.All these branches have to act responsibly. These are not easy times even without these fuck ups.

I am with you man. Sarath Silva seems to be overstepping the line too often now. He was not eleced by the people to run the economy of the country nor he posses expertise to decide on economy related matters. Therefore, Sarath Silva shall stay away from the matter he is not trusted to handle. Otherwise, he shall be stripped of the title with the available constitutional means.

Tamil Tigers and their supremo V Prabhakaran are at their "last gasp," facing imminent defeat at Kilinochchi as the Sri Lankan army is on the verge of overrunning LTTE's defacto capital, former top LTTE commander Karuna Amman has said.

In an interview to state owned Independent Television Network (ITN), Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, once the second in command in the LTTE, said the rebel leader was about to be "punished for his insensate crimes".

"Former Comrade in arms of Prabhakaran, Karuna said that the LTTE leader is at his last gasp in Kilinochchi and he is about to be punished for all his cruel and insensate crimes," the Defence Ministry quoted Karuna as saying.

Karuna also told the channel that Prabhakaran had claimed that the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was carried out without his knowledge.

He said he had raised the question of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and the attack on the 'Temple of the Tooth' in Kandy with Prabhakaran and told him that these acts created opposition all over the world against the Tamil movement.

"The LTTE leader's simple explanation was that those (acts) had been done without his knowledge," he told the channel.

He added Prabhakaran "was simply lying" in this statement as no decisions in the LTTE are taken without his knowledge.

Karuna, who formed the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP) group after he quit the tigers, said he left the LTTE over disagreements on acts of terrorism practiced by the group, the Defence Ministry quoted him as saying in the interview.

I say Jet..your Not a citizen of SLanka...You have nothing to do with Slanka and Slanka has nothing to do with you....Why dont you enjoy this "credit crunch" in the overseas "Paradise" where nothing unkind will happen to you..i wish you a 1000 credit crunches in future..have fun man!!..real fun times are coming...

Sakkilee jet(tamil refugee toilet cleaner) you can write any shit and make up many stupid stories as you can but all sinlalies& muslim men have brains (unlike you sakklies) we know exactlywhat is happening out there.You frustrated sakillee dog shitting around this blog. But it does not bother us because we don't bother to read them.Go & shit in your tamilnut you tamil donkey.pray for prabakera's testicles.Our army will cut them when he is alive.

These sakillies come to Europe in back of the lorry as refugees & when they see some £ & $ they think they are big. They can earn few $ by cleaning toilets but you cannot change the way they look "fresh off the boat".

Dear Patriots,We can be very happy about the outstanding job done by our brave army chaps at eliminating so many hundreds of LTTE monkeys from the face of the earth. They in addition to rendering an immense service to the motherland are also doing a favor to humanity. All these LTTE monkeys will not be able to breed more monkey babies to pollute the human gene pool.

Dear Patriots,I am sure our commanders are doing everything possible to decrease SLA casualties and increase the kill rate of LTTE monkeys. I wonder if they are utilizing smokescreens during frontal assaults on fixed defensive positions.

The U.S. Army has long appreciated the value of smoke screens for 2D ground operations by having M113A3 armored fighting vehicles (M58 "Wolf") and (M56 "Coyote") HMMWVs fitted with smoke generators to mask large formations of vehicles/troops on the move. Work is underway to give the M1 Abrams a smoke screen capability by adding JP-8/diesel directly to the engine exhaust. Field Artillery can lay smoke screens with shells if they have the logistics to deliver the extra smoke shells, HE shells are always first priority. Every AFV has emergency smoke grenades that can be launched to evade a missile attack. The BFV can lay engine smoke.

One of the best early examples of use of smokescreens was Airborne assault on Nadzab, an airstrip in the Markham Valley in Papau New Guinea in the fall of 1943. Minutes before the troop-carrying C-47s arrived over the Nadzab drop zone, a very large force (as many as 90 ships) of B-25 gunships hit the airfield. After strafing the drop zone, the B-25s dropped their loads of parafrag bombs. As the last B-25 left the field a flight of A-20s came over and dispensed a cloud of smoke around the DZ to conceal the troopers from the enemy positions in the trees. The Paratroopers landed under the concealment of the smoke without taking a single casualty from enemy fire. Within minutes after they were on the ground, the Japanese on the airfield surrendered with very little resistance.

Acting against corrupt politicians and corrupt deals (like hedging) is one matter, and we are totally behind that step.

But deciding on how to tax and etc after the budget has been passed (with proposed expenses for projects etc) is not acceptable. If this government is taxing too much, let the people decide it in the next election.

Have we gone anywhere up to now with governments trying to temporarily appease the masses by reduced prices of fuel, wheat etc. As a result those governments did zero or little development projects during their time. For example take the energy crisis, how did it come to such a stage? It was because governments at that time were not bold enough to take courages decisions.

There seems to be a pattern to these events

First it was to do with loans that were granted to the country, then it was with the GSP+, and now it is with these kind of tax cutting decisions (one after the other)

"STF" seems to be little frustrated by this lose, sad.. what to do chena boy , u'r boys fate, in the vanni land..what do u do for living sucking cocks or something. if u do please consult the doctor because u'r speaking some harsh languages lately and also seems to be frustrated..

"Tropical storm" Dig deeper fckfaces..what are they dicking u'r head or somethin.. relax boy the war isnt over yet..

[KILINOCHCHI: CAPTURE of CHORIKEN KULAM, about 7 km to the west of the A-9 Highway was brought to a total completion by Wednesday (17) afternoon as the troops of the Task Force-I and 57 Division commenced their search and clear operations in the area.]

Son Of a Gun,we all ready have that tech.Thats how we counter them with our MBRL and arti.But the Monkeys fix those Arti to Tractors. They fire and move very quickly. But still we manage to BBQ few monkeys becouse of our high fire power.

My brother, Thambi is untouchable; there is no way that the Sri Lankan army is going to catch him.I doubt even the fiery beauty, Mathivathini, ever managed to touch him. So, the offspring of three is produced by the direct descent of three angels from the realm of divinity for the special purpose and then mixing with dust on the ground.

Hark the Herald Angels sing!

My brother was a fearless freedom fighter; unfortunately, circumstances have made him to live like a hermit in his own motheland, exactly like my husband's penis chose to live in a condom in his hey day, before falling a victim to Parkinson's disease.

The Canadian tax-payers look after us, quite generously, because of our VIP status. Our little Thambi is in record books, Wikipedia, dictionaries - just, you name it. So, I must say we earned our status through hard work.

I say he was born in Jaffna; he has his critics. They say he was born in Batticaloa. This is a part of the plot - character assasination. My brother never comes down to this cheap level; he is a man who never minces his words. He will assasinate charcters in person - not their charcteristics. People must recognize this noble quality and give him due respect.

Is he going down exactly the same way as Jesus, Lord Buddha and even Prophet Mohamad(PBUY)?

This is unacceptable; his noble status must be recognized when he is alive, not when he is gone. He has no plans to live like an old wreck into ripe old age: he is on a mission; once it is accomplished, he is ready to depart. The time and space are not determined by MK83; it is not determined by alchemist's nightmare, cyanide, either. It is by god Murugan's calling, I must tell the critics who run into millions.

His enemy from the South thought their anscestors were the greatest dam builders - the Kala wewa, Yoda weva etc. Now that notion is challenged. Just look at the dam(n)s made under our Thambi's supervision. The trenches go right across Wanni. What an irrigation miracle! The earth bunds stand out as fortreses of Wanni dwarfing the patchwork of the Dutch and Portugese. Farmers in Wanni do not have to moan about the scarcity of water any more while bending before their rulers in the South. The issue has been addressed in a formidable way - once and for all.

People wonder how my brother achieved this cult-like-status. There is no better person to account for it, than his own sister.

It is his eyes that do the trick. They are piercing and emit something special at any thing that he focuses on. The special light is a little above ultra-violet in the electromagnetic spectrum - something even scientists haven't recognized so far. You may call it ultra-violent if you wish; we don't care - we simply don't care. We know how to live with insults!

Despite all the mud-slingins that our family suffered for producing this special sibling, I came out to put the record straight; my brother is a legend, not a mischief-maker.

So, I ask the world, a simple question?

Are you waiting to celebrate him after he vanishes? This is unacceptable.

Please, come forward in your thousands. Extend your support to save him and his organization from extinct.Don't be stupid to construct monuments after his departure. His enemy is hell bent on demolishing them at first sight, any way.

Save my brother; enlighten his vision.

Silence is vice; pre-emptive elimination of enemy, and would-be enemy is virtue.

2008-12-18 12:55:01 KILINOCHCHI: TWO TIGER terrorists who have deserted their ranks in the LTTE organization surrendered to the Army troops of the Task Force 1 in the general area of NAGASIVANTHURAI jetty this morning (18).

The surrendees at the age of 28 and 33 had been forcibly deployed in PALAI area by LTTE area leaders, according to them.

However, they had made up their mind and finally crossed the KILALY lagoon on a locally made craft (Theppam) to reach the NAVANTHURAI jetty in the east of POONERYN.

I propose that the GOSL create a monument to the dead heroes of this war called the

"SRI LANKA WAR HEROES MONUMENT"

similar to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., consisting of a great wall of polished granite on which the military ID#, Name, Year of death, and Military unit are engraved. I propose that an

"ETERNAL FLAME"

be maintained lit at this monument with a round-the-clock permanent honour guard, and that on a designated

"WAR HEROES MEMORIAL DAY"

each year, all of these names be read out by a public address system.

This monument should be located in Anuradhapura, in front of Anagarika Dharmapala's statue.

in 'jayasikuru' modaya came to fight with thousands of fellow modayas, kafir, mi24 & tanks

many never returned home

---------------Not the same anymore

Do you know that during jayasikuru SLA resorted to column movements along major roads thus exposing its flanks.

Now each divisions flank is guarded by at least another two divisions.Further SLA didnot have enough man power to hold the areas they captured.

Then the MBRL factor we did not have MBRL at that time but the LTTE had a smaller version (Jeep mounted one)when we asked for MBRLs to halt the LTTE advance india offered us ships to evacuate SLDF from jaffna (So much for helping a friend in distress)pakistan ( Which is a true friend of SL came to our help at that time by supplying MBRLs that was how the tiger advance on jaffna was halted

Other factor is logistics

As per my analysis .This is LTTE's last chance to counter attack if SLA secures another 05 more vital points ( Kilinochchi is not one of them rest i will not mention here) LTTE is doomed as a conventional force.they will face a logistical nightmare

all though you guys don't realize it the SLA is on target on all these objectives. Any attack after these objectives are taken is too little and damn too late

Even there is a major counter attack now how many casualties can the LTTE sustain in order to cripple the SLDF and retain the mobility of LTTE there should be at least a casualty ratio of 25/1 favoring LTTE. Now how probable is this?

When SLA says a certain city is liberated be assured that SLA is actually gone beyond that point so the actual battlefield is not the area which is disclosed to the public.

The moment SLA consolidates these 5 points there is very remote chance of a major counter attack its check mate

So far SLA is on course.either LTTE is stupid not to realize this or they are not capable of countering this threat poised by the SLDF

So its the time for LTTE to pull the much harped about rabbit out of the hat or vanish there is not going to be a 2nd time

Killinochchi is the emotional objective battlefield objectives are quiet different mate.But this will also be taken

Irony is LTTE needs to hold killinochchi for its survival but the SLDF doest need it to achieve its objective.

but as with any battle only time will tell .But time is not a luxury for LTTE terrorists.

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Ananda USA said

GOSL should create a war memorial

------------------

Its already done and its located in the parliament grounds Sri Jayawardenapura.All of you Sri Lankans Please visit it with your kids when ever you can and teach them to appreciate what the present generation of Soldiers has done to make a safer tomorrow for them.

The biggest memorial for SLA is in Kandy at Mailapitiya. The names of22000+ sons of the soil who lost their lives are curved on plaques at this site.Every year their is a large ceremony to honour these valient men.

If I am not mistaken, LTTE tried to mount a massive attack on this site during 2007 when MR was visting this place..

Anti GOSL forces working hiding in the background are trying to exploit every opportunity to bring down the government and its offensive against LTTE.

Few months back they tested "Chandrika" and found she has lost ground. Then they worked to dissent "Karu" from the Government. Now the next step is "Mongala". They have funded Mongala's visit to Norway, and have got him meet with Anti Sri Lankan Hanssen Baur and the convicted criminal Eric Solheim.

During this fighting, how many armored vehicles were put out of action/destrpyed beyond repair?..any idea..also,the defence.lk shows a photo of a group of soldiers trying to remove a Buffel stuck in mud..Now i only wonder how they gonna manage to pull out a 45+ ton T-55MBT out of,say an anti-tank ditch or some obstacle?..

These two tigers used a 'theppam' to run away from LTTE. They were deployed at Pallai (below Kilali) and they had to reach Pooneryn via sea in order to give themselves up. They had to make a huge effort to just surrender to the armed forces.Videoclick here

Did you guys see B. Raman's comment of killinochchi battle? He is clearly partial toward LTTE. He thinks our soldiers are poorly tained and incapable. He just lost his profession as an military analyst, if he was a one.

"Meanwhile, troops of Task Force 3 advancing east of the A-9 road are now less than a kilometre away from another LTTE stronghold Nedunkerni. They are expected to link up with the 59 Division in Welioya. With the linking of the two divisions the entire south area will come under full military control. However this area is virtually under military control since the last few months. "Defence Column-Daily mirror

COLOMBO (AFP) — Sri Lanka stepped up air attacks in the north Wednesday, a day after troops and Tamil Tigers fought intense ground battles around the rebels' stronghold that left hundreds dead and wounded.

Military officials said the air force was called in to bomb suspected Tiger "strong points" around Kilinochchi.

Security forces carried out simultaneous ground attacks against Tamil Tiger defences around Kilinochchi and on the Jaffna peninsula on Tuesday, the defence ministry said.

In a rare statement announcing casualty figures, the ministry said 15 troops had been killed, with another 10 missing and 130 wounded, while an estimated 180 Tigers were killed and 350 wounded.

The pro-rebel Tamilnet website quoted Tiger official S. Puleedevan as saying they had killed 130 soldiers outside Kilinochchi while another 40 were killed on the nearby Jaffna peninsula.

The Tigers said they had recovered the bodies of 32 government troops and would be returning them through the International Red Cross. The rebels did not give details of their casualties.

The defence ministry said sporadic fighting continued in the north while troops were consolidating positions they had captured from the Tigers, who have offered stiff resistance to government forces advancing on Kilinochchi, 330 kilometres (210 miles) north of Colombo.

For several months President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government has been predicting the imminent fall of Kilinochchi and the military recently said it was within "kissing distance" of the town.

A Sri Lankan Tamil doctor in the USA who is belived to be a top LTTE financier has been busted.

There is a terrible irony when a Lankan doctor, who got his primary, secondary and tertiary education free at Royal College, and also got free medical education in SL, comes to the USA and makes millions out of his 'free education' while declaring he was 'discriminated' in Sri Lanka.

It is because of these types of people that the LTTE is able to hire highly paid and well connected lobbysts in the USA.

It looks like the authorities are finally cracking down on the LTTE's paymasters.

A former hospital executive admitted Friday he paid a man to recruit homeless people for unnecessary medical treatment in a scheme to bilk government health programs out of millions of dollars.

Dr. Rudra Sabaratnam, who ran City of Angels Medical Center, faces up to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to paying a recruiter nearly $500,000 to find Skid Row homeless people with Medi-Cal or Medicare cards and transport them to the hospital.In his plea agreement, which remains under seal, Sabaratnam also agreed to pay more than $4.1 million in restitution to Medicare and Medi-Cal.

Sabaratnam, 64, is scheduled to be sentenced June 8 on two counts of illegal patient referrals.Messages left with City of Angels and Sabaratnam's attorney were not immediately returned Friday.U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said the doctor masterminded a sophisticated scheme to cheat the government out of millions of dollars from about August 2004 to October 2007.

The investigation was sparked in 2006 as Los Angeles police looked into reports that hospitals were dumping homeless patients on Skid Row streets.

Federal prosecutors said the homeless people - often drug addicts or mentally ill - were brought to the hospital and given unnecessary treatments in exchange for $100 or less. Often they were diagnosed with minor problems that didn't require hospitalization, such as dehydration, exhaustion or yeast infections.

The government was sent the bill for the treatments, which would sometimes last days.

Sabaratnam and the recruiter, Estill Mitts, 64, were arrested after federal prosecutors issued a 21-count indictment in August.Mitts, operator of a Skid Row health assessment center, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.Since the arrests, people at a Skid Row homeless shelter have noticed less suspicious traffic in the area. Orlando Ward, a spokesman for the Midnight Mission homeless shelter, said he often saw vans that used to circle the neighborhood looking for would-be patients.

Assistant United States Attorney Vince Farhat said the government's investigation into a wider problem is ongoing.

There's a clear reason as to why it is taking the SLDF to get thru the Killinochchi defences; they were set up strategically and have been set up quite well and the defenders of those defenensive positions have been practising their tasks for a long time and are good at it.

On the other side, the SLDF wants to take them down at minimum cost to soldiers' lives and the Army commander has instructed caution and prevention of unnecessary loss of lives. All these put constraints on the military's operations commanders to 'go slow and live another day to fight again'.Having an ongoing 'hot zone' at a distance from Mullaitivu and other strong points allows the SLDF to use attrition techniques to erode the enemy fighting capacity and dilute its concentration away from the last outpost where the deadliest fighting can be expected, Mullaitivu.

These strategies do not come cheap. They also allow the enemy mobility and ability to continue to dominate a fairly large swathe of land which could have been easily taken over otherwise.

for those who remember, Gen.Kobbekaduwa used a similar draw out and kill tactic when he led an amphibious assault to releave some outpost long time ago and led the LTTE to believe that they had him bogged down. It took Velu two weeks and hundreds of deaths to realize that he's been suckered in to a battle of attrition. The present Defsec Gota and Gen Fonseka were junior officers in that action and may have a clear understanding of how it all works.

Killi has no militayr significance but it is easily to morale destruction point for the LTTe as an organization. Its' identity to its cadre as a political point of referecne would be lost the moment the city is taken by the SLDF. So, Velu is compelled to defend the joint at any cost.

Conversely, Mullaitivu is of high military value and a target very difficult for an aggressor to take against an entrenched defender.

Knowing this formula will help to understand the military's strategy of keeping the LTTe's resources tied up in 3 or 4 different theatres, at a distance from each other.

If the LTTE decides to give up E'Pass and move its force into Mullaitivu, that would make it that much more difficult for the Army to attack, while the loss of EP will unleash both 53 and 55Divisions to screw the ass off the nattamis in Killinochchi from the north.

So now it is a balancing act for both, but only one has the benefit of time on their side. The SLDF has the ability to continue to replenish itself, while the LTTE does not. At the same time, outside political forces can screw with the SLG if this drags on for too long, so it cannot be an indefinite waiting game.

It is a game of death with a ticking clock. On both sides brave lives are at stake. Would be amusing, if it wasn't so deadly, or the costs so high.

“General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) M. T. Hassen Ali has called for explanations from three Parliamentarians Rischard Badhuiden, Ameer Ali and Najeeb A. Majeed to show cause why they should not be expelled from the party”http://www.island.lk/2008/12/19/news6.html

This is just the beginning. UNP and the JVP will follow suit. Then all will go to the Supreme Court.

What is the story about Tamil violence, where two guys were mercilessly beaten up by nearly 20 young thugs and it seems some Tamil Nadhu MF cops were just standing by doing nothing. It was one of the most disgusting videos I have ever seen. People here in London who saw the clip was truly disgusted. We will pass this on to some of the misguided supporters of the Diaspora. looks like it’s inside an university and the pack of cowardly jackals are students.

I've been in communication with him and can assure you that he holds our forces in high regard. He also thinks the present standards were achieved by Gen. Fonseka's own professionalism not only as a military commander, but also as a forward strategist. Mr.Raman also believes Prez. MR to be capable of making a military victory into a far sighted and viable political outcome even if a faction of the Sinhala polity disagree.

Therefore I can assure you that he is not biased towards the LTTE.

If you have doubts, please write to Mr Raman. He's a nice guy to correspond with and you'll find your dissenting views treated with respect.

We do have specialized troops who can fight very well in the Mullaitivu jungles. But, here the need is to make the most number of LTTe kills before they are cornered in to the jungles. That's where the theory of conflicting strategies comes into play for the SLDF.

At the same time, it would be fatal to underestimate teh LTTE's ability to fight the last ditch battle in Mullaitivu. The death toll will sky-rocket irrespective of how well our guys are trained.

Alternately, if we are able to kill Velu before that, the chances of a majority of the LTTE rank and file disarming and surendering improves.

Every Army has an engineer corps accompanying the armored divisions, in a support role. These guys are very capable and are trained to deal not only in heavy equipment repairs, but some also double as sappers when operating behind enemy lines.

The armored corp also has tank-retriever vehicles, which are also tracked and are capable of pulling a tank out easily. SL does have such equipment, but numbers are unknown. Also, any tank can be pulled out by another.

However, it is a different story when tracks get blown off. Repairing them under fire is a different story, but has been done before.

From the above, Tunukkai and Manthai East are completely under our control. Most of Maritimepattu is under 59 div right now. Soon we will be taking Oddusuddan town. Then half of Oddusuddan DS dividion would be under our control. So far we haven't touched the Puthukudiyiruppu DS division.

"..The misfortune the troops had to face was the bad weather conditions, specially for the troops operating in the 571 Brigade front in the West of Kilinochchi.

In some instances troops had faced severe difficulties in casualty evacuation as some soldiers who sustained injuries in the ensuing battle could not be evacuated as they had to cross huge waterways amidst rains of artillery and mortar directed at them.

[ more like left the dead and ran away!! hahahahhak hak hak ] : p

There were instances where some injured soldiers were washed away in gushing waters and ended up in the Tiger controlled areas in Kilinochchi.[ dumping their own kind, hihihak hak finally they admit it hak hak haai]

By Wednesday evening the 571 Brigade had to give up the areas captured by them on Tuesday evening as they were facing an extremely difficult situation in casualty evacuation. ..." [ so all those soldiers died for nothing?? just to leave it and run away??] hak hak hak hi hi hi hak hak"

B Raman was a senior Indian intelligence officer that served for 26 years with RAW, and a former Indian bureaucrat in charge of intelligence activities. In his previous roles, I am sure he had a number of interactions with the LTTE since many Indian agencies were instrumental in creating and nurturing many of the armed groups in Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 1980s.

He claims to be currently affiliated with the so called Chennai Institute of Topical Studies. I am certain this outfit is funded by the Indian intelligence establishment and has a not-so benevolent agenda with regard to Sri Lanka.

Last year, B Raman published what is probably the only insiders account of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Although there are some bits of intrigue,for the most part the book is a piece of propaganda about the RAW.

Sarath fonseka said only 2000 tigers left in vanni, and how the fuck 170000 singla monkeys doing against 2000 tigers, sucking each others cocks desperately i think lol..

this so called leader of the srilankan army have to check his math, or have to train a army, not some not to recruit some monkeys, and inhabitants.. who had no experiences,

to DN

how many elite troops srilanka have

how many elite soldiers are in the front assault ,

are they more than "2000" soldiers in action

why it takes more than a year to take down a single place called "kilinochi"

these are questions i would ask if im a singala civilian..

here in this blog many of them rajepakse asslickers, who gets benefit from by repeating the same shit again and again..

u cannot even get a single death tall more than 100 to tigers in a single battle since the eelam war 4th started, u have battleships, u have super sonics, u have t55 tank"s" , rocket launchers, and man power,... should i explain more or ...

Killi has no militayr significance but it is easily to morale destruction point for the LTTe as an organization.

Its because of Kilinochchi-Paranthan-EPS-Muhamalai axis that LTTE is still able to hold back the 53rd and 55th Div.

If one of these strategic points in the axis is captured, it will have a spiraling effect on the other points, thereby ultimately leading to the entire collapse of that axis and releasing two of the best army divisions held up in Jaffna! Think what a difference that will make!

Putting pressure on Mullative hoping that LTTE will then rush its cadres from EPS/Kili/Muha area to Mullativu (thereby weakening the Kili-Muha axis and lead to its eventual fall) will not work.

If it was indeed workable, it would have already been done by now, since SLA already on the door step of Mullativu. None of that happened. Therefore, the conclusion is that LTTE it self places more importance in Kilinochchi axis than Mullativu.

The fact that LTTE places more importance in Kili than Mulativu is further evidenced by the way they have deployed their cadres : Hardcore cadres in Kili-Muha axis, while women cadres, freshers and sea tigers in Mullativu

Few reasons why LTTE places such an importance in Kilinochchi is (other than its hugely significant political value)

1. Access to India through Kilaly lagoon, which can only be possible if Kili-Muha axis is within LTTE control. Refer earlier newspaper reports of the lucrative fuel smuggling racket between TN and LTTE, despite the heavy Naval presence. Politically, its paramount that LTTE maintains a physical link with India. Treatment of wounded cadres in TN hospitals is another reason that comes to my mind.

2. Mulaltivu is a natural harbour, and fairly large vessels can berth there. However, because of the Naval cordon and the heavy presence of SLA ground troops around Alampil, Mullavu lagoon is declining is significance for its smuggling activities. LTTE cannot use large trawlers for smuggling as before, and therefore smaller craft are utilized (specialforces in LNP mentioned the LTTE has recently smuggled few ship loads of ammo using smaller fishing crafts). These smaller crafts, IMO, can be landed in any one of the smaller harbors that are still under the LTTE control the Northern coastline.

Therefore, with each passing day, Mullativu and its strategic value is paling in comparison to the importance of Kilinochchi axis.

[1. Access to India through Kilaly lagoon, which can only be possible if Kili-Muha axis is within LTTE control.]

With the capture of the Pooneryn peninsula, both sides of Sanguipiddy causeway is in SLA hands. The ferry section of this causeway is the gap through which vessels must pass to exit the Kilali lagoon; this is now easily defended by the SLA round the clock. So, I don't see how LTTE can access India through the Kilaly lagoon. All LTTE vessels can reach the sea only from the East coast.

The Kili/ Paranthan/ EPS/ Kilali/ Mahamalai/ Nargarkovil line is important to the LTTE to protect their remaining uncleared area, to protect the northern end of A35 route that is the essential supply route between their Northeast defence line and Mullaitivu front, and to harvest our troops from established defences. Mullaitivu anchors the southern end of the A35route, and is their last remaining port for their larger vessels.

However, don't you think that during the heat of battle, the Engineering corps would be the first to be targeted?..This is to reduce/eliminate any amount of support to armored vehicles which get disabled after hit by enemy fire, or getting stuck in an ant-tank ditch..

In muhamalai 2006, for instance the SLA lost 12 armored vehicles in a SINGLE day(6 MBT and 6 IFV's)..This was due to the Tigers clever use of anti-tank ditches,a ring network of heavy ant-tank mines and covering support from mobile groups of RPG Hit-teams.. These kind of innovative tactics won praise and admiration from even SLA officers, who never expected anything of that magnitude..

Coming back to the Killi'nochi battle, surely there might have been casualties to the armored regiment as well?..i mean, if the Tigers built bunds and other obstacles,then obviously these are barriers to both a soldier and a tank..My guess is atleast 3 MBT and a similar no of IFV's have been either destroyed or put out of action..otherwise, how do you explain the almost 200 KIA on the SLA's side?..of course,the Tigers may have lost a similar number of cadres..but they were in entrenched and well-fortified positions..so unless the SLAF had done its job properly by taking out mortar launchers and artillery guns, before the assault, then there is bound to be severe casulaties, from say a ring of 12.7mm/14.5mm and even higher caliber rapid-firing machine guns, which are firing from within a bunker or trench,or some enclosed area..

Brain storming is key to success before anything. It broke my heart to see the lankaguardian pics of sons of the soil who got killed fighting the LTTE scum . However it is a well determined fight to distroy LTTE terrorism in Wanni.

SLA should take every precaution to minimise casualities.

I guess not enough softening attacks were launched before commencing the ground push. That was a disaster. It looks to me, it was identical push from 4 fronts and LTTE was waiting for that.

SLA top brass should have anticipated this. Recent remarks and boasting by the SLA commander has not helped these counter terror operations either.One wonders whether, it puts him in the unnecessary spotlight and distracted him from performing his normal duties.

There is no rush to capture the remaining areas of Wanni. It is enough talking about taking killi before the new year.What is necessary is to distroy the LTTE will to fight and their capability to wage war.

Lets face it,I think SLA top brass learned the lesson one more time the hard way, but unnecessarilly paid for by the valient sons of the soil.

Guys, don't blame me for the harsh comments. The purpose here is to minimise casualities of the SLA.When there is f'up we should acknowledge it.

My concern is whether we are giving the new SLA recruits enough training to fight the worlds most ruthless terror outfit.

hemantha, I think Oddusuddan may require some careful handling like Omanthai earlier. First, it was declared a "no-fire zone" for IDPs some time ago. Even if the LTTE has probably moved the IDPs away from Oddusuddan by now this "no-fire zone" may have to officially canceled. Secondly, if I remember correctly the ICRC may now has a checkpoint there like they do on our side at Puliyankulam.

"The LTTE has no democratic mandate to represent the Tamil population. It is reported to recruit civilians, including children, into its ranks forcibly, to extort food and money from an already impoverished people, to abduct and kill Tamil civilians who disagree with its views or methods and to break all norms of international humanitarian law by preventing civilians from leaving conflict areas, effectively holding them as a human shield.

The LTTE has conducted a terrorist campaign across the whole of Sri Lanka for nearly three decades, deliberately targeting thousands of individual civilians, as well as assassinating Government figures."

"British Government recognises the Government of Sri Lanka’s democratic right to fight terrorism"

===

Remember, every hour you waste lobbying these “jokers” it’s £5.73p less to the cause.

why it takes more than a year to take down a single place called "kilinochi"

these are questions i would ask if im a singala civilian.. ====================

How come LTTE lost 75% of the terrirtory it controls barely 2 years ago?

Every LTTE moron should ask Super Human Barbarian velu...

do u have any idea , u pakayas got those places in the east, during the ceasefire soldiers should not fight

but u monkleys dont know any laws of cesefire and started the cunning war which leads to the destruction of east side of ltte hqs, but , remember as i said u already modaya ,u ahve 170000 soldiers, do u think we are spartans who try to be brave warriors here[atleast they fought with humans], fighting against crowded monkeys like u'r army, could be destructable to tigers, so they have to take time, so its is inevitable to loose the lands that held, soon u will find out the withrawal tactics of the tigers

to mess:ado ponnaya do u have any idea why those MPs asking for casefire, because instead of fighting against tigers , u morons fighting against childrens and womens who are in the hospitals and the tents for shelters..

The recent Raman article is very critical towards SL Army. I see nothing wrong with that. The problem is that the article is equivalent to a one made by an average person usually posted in the opinion pages in the news papers. His analysis has no good facts or depth. Completely one dimensional. Basically, it is not an analysis. It seems to me that SF has made some enemies on the other side of the sub continent by his "joker" comment and they are trying to get back at him..

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan security forces (SF) ferociously clashed in Murukandi sector as SF troopers tried to advance into the LTTE held Iranaimadu area using heavy artillery, mortars, attack helicopters, air crafts and battle tank units on Friday morning 8:45 a.m. SF forces suffered heavy casualties, the LTTE forces thwarted the SF attacks and captured a dead body of a SF trooper along with many war like items, according to the sources in Vanni

Well informed sources in Colombo told TNS, that dozens of hospitals in Colombo, Kandy, Trincomalee, Anuradhapura and many other have been over flowing for the past few weeks especially past few days due to the heavy casualties among the SF troopers. The ferocious battles intensifying in Vanni as monsoon rain sets in Vanni.

"Several soldiers made their ultimate sacrifice for the nation while many others suffered injuries during this battle," the sources told TNS without elaborating SF troopers casualty figures.

Raging fighting between the LTTE and SF in the Vanni area made 327,000 civilians internally displaced including 40,000 children according to the UN agency and these people are living under the trees, schools, churches and many other temporary shelters with limited or no access food, medicines and basic essentials and heavy flooding onsets of rain adding to their vows, sources further added.

"Dec 19, Colombo: Sri Lankan troops moving towards the LTTE rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi achieved a significant gain when they captured the rebel built earth bund and brought the area east of A-9 highway to Iranamadu Tank under their control despite the muddy terrain and heavy rebel resistance, the military said.

Troops of 57 Division pushed into the northern edge of the LTTE earth bund of about 8 ft high from the western side of the Iranamadu Tank early today. The soldiers destroyed few LTTE bunkers on the earth bund before they crossed over the bund and into the rebel held land."

"An alert Army Sergeant in the bus after entertaining doubt about the movement of a well-dressed gentleman towards the rear part of the bus with his brand new brief case in hand, has suddenly gripped on to his hands and tried to get the brief case away, but it tore off uncovering the bomb's detonator which was to be exploded at any given moment. "-Defence.lk

Dec 19, Colombo: Sri Lankan troops moving towards the LTTE rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi achieved a significant gain when they captured the rebel built earth bund and brought the area east of A-9 highway to Iranamadu Tank under their control despite the muddy terrain and heavy rebel resistance, the military said.

Troops of 57 Division pushed into the northern edge of the LTTE earth bund of about 8 ft high from the western side of the Iranamadu Tank early today. The soldiers destroyed few LTTE bunkers on the earth bund before they crossed over the bund and into the rebel held land.

Troops of Task Force 1 breached the LTTE built earth bund yesterday afternoon following heavy confrontations with the Tigers in the general area of Nivil in Kilinochchi.

However troops consolidating in the area last night came under LTTE counter attacks to recapture the bund but the attempts were thwarted, the defence officials said.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka Air Force fighter jets and helicopter gunships launched multiple air strikes on LTTE targets around Jaffna lagoon, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu in support of the fighting ground troops.

Air force spokesman Janaka Nanayakkara said “We have carried out six missions around Kilinochchi this morning in support of ground troops."

“All targets were accurately taken,” spokesman added.

The multi-pronged military offensive to capture the rebel strongholds of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu has entered in to a decisive stage. The military plans to add two more task forces to speed up the operations.

Unhappy New YearDecember 19, 2008: Weeks of fighting around the LTTE capital of Kilinochchi has led to several thousand casualties. Troops are attacking LTTE bunkers five kilometers outside the town. As expected, the LTTE have some of their best remaining fighters operating here. But the LTTE is fighting under many disadvantages. The air force controls the air, and the pilots are now experienced at hitting ground targets. The army has far more artillery than the LTTE, and much more ammunition.

Meanwhile, the 59th division keeps moving up the east coast, giving the LTTE less and less coastline for their smuggling boats. More portions of the A-9 highway (which runs up the center of the island) is being captured by troops. The LTTE is being pressed on over a dozen fronts. While clearly on its last legs, the LTTE appears determined to go down fighting. Given how thinly stretched the LTTE forces are, a complete collapse could come at any time. The army is still wary of a last-ditch counter-offensive, even though several deadly LTTE local counter-attacks have been repulsed recently. Having been beaten up by the LTTE several times over the last two decades, the generals remain cautious. The army knows it will win, and wants to do so with as few casualties as possible.

Tamils fleeing LTTE held territory report increasing efforts to conscript and train fighters. Many of those drafted end up spending all their time digging and building fortifications. Air force bombers and army artillery make these trenches and bunkers essential. Moreover, as the army advances, and captures an LTTE line of bunkers, the surviving rebel fighters fall back to another line. The LTTE bunker builders are often bombed or shelled. The LTTE will often try to claim that these unarmed fighters were actually innocent civilians slaughtered by racist government forces. LTTE efforts to carry out terror attacks against civilian targets have been frustrated by the police and army roadblocks. The LTTE does not have as much access to the test of the island as they used to.

December 12, 2008: The army captured a village eight kilometers from the rebel headquarters town of Kilinochchi.

do you have any idea how , and why ltte formed "You LTTE terrorists WILL BE WIPED OUT!!! This will be the last war"

to kill the ltte i u have to kill 3 generations of tamils, from the map of the world my child

u have no idea what u faceing, doing a keyboard war isnt going to change the reality,

did u ever notice that charles antony, or any other elite troops not shown ,or faought in front line battles, all u see a bunch of new ltte solders who is getting training with the non-uniformed status.. btw it may seems that world is in GOV side, as u see what happening in Zimbabwe, or any other nations with iron fisted rules, no public freedom, no media freedom, these will not last long for the longer run kiddo..

remember, u cannot kill the freedom of strugle, or the spirit of the people who are willing to give their souls to save their land, or their culture..

u can take all the land u want, but u cannot kill the ltte who lives among the tamil people, who want the freedom from the lion born incest creatures

(December 19, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Government is trying to push it elite troops around the Kilinochchi, but it is far from reached, and is in setback losing its well trained troops in continuing to fight mostly decisive battles in many fronts.

While the army amidst some heavy fighting in last week it is now raising a new fighting division (Task Force V) to put into battle in the coming days. It will be the army’s eighth division entering the battle during the Wanni operation. As it is placed under Col. Athula Galagamage, Lt. Col. Priyanka Fernando and Lt. Col. Ranjith Abeyratne have been appointed as its Brigade Commanders.

It was only in the beginning of this month that the Army raised its seventh division (Div.64 or Task Force IV). It is headed by Col. Nishantha Wanniarachchi is deployed in Mulaitivu along with 59 Division.

These events clearly show that the army is slowly trapping in a conventional warfare method, however, recent weeks the army was defeated in a conventional battle in several fronts, initiated by the military.

In the first instant, a heavy fighting broke out on Wednesday (10) as the Army advanced towards Killinochchi from several directions and the battle that continued for 24 hours. The heaviest fighting took place at Pudumuruppukulam, west of Killinochchi town.

The Air Force too engaged LTTE positions in support of the ground troops. But troops came under heavy machine gunfire from the LTTE holding entrenched positions on the earth bund. Using special operation tactics, the LTTE virtually cornered the Seventh Light Infantry regiment; it was led by Lt. Col. Ranjith Abeyratne with a heavy mortar fire.

The regiment lost 45 of its men as a result, including 12 men who fell into LTTE hands. Another 120 soldiers were injured. Intercepted army communications have also confirmed these heavy losses. But army officially admitted that the 23 killed and more than 60 wounded, in order to avoid demoralisation of their troops. But some sources in Wanni indicated that the army death toll in two days of fighting (Wednesday (10) and Thursday (11)) at 120 killed and 280 wounded. These attacks were directed by LTTE’s Special Leader of the Imran Pandiyan special force identified as Lt. Col. Velawan.

After this failed operation, Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) fighter jets and assault choppers carried out more than dozen sorties in the south of Kilinochchi and West of Paranthan. Throughout the ceasefire, the air force has been building up its elite attack helicopter squadron (The 9th Attack Helicopter Squadron) which consist of Mi 24s and Mi 35s hind helicopters which are designed to give close air support for ground troops.

Then the Government claimed that the 57-4 Brigade led by Lt. Col. Senaka Wijesuriya was moved from Akkarayan to Therumurukandi, while Lt. Col. Priyantha Perera led 63-1 Brigade has advanced further east beyond Olumadu in the process of capturing Kuruppamaddimuruppu. Also 63-2 Brigade, which was moved towards Ampakamam,

But whatever the Government claims, the second bloody battles broke up south of Ki'laali and west of Killinochchi on Tuesday (16) as the LTTE offered stiff resistance to the troops pushing into the further south. According to reports from the battlefront, troops beefed up operations now when bad weather conditions temporarily improved.

On last week, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Donald Perera and Army Commander Lt. Gen Sarath Fonseka, who visited Wanni Command Headquarters and assessed the ground situation with Wanni Commander Maj. Gen Jagath Jayasuriya and other top brass. Then they visited Jaffna and met with Jaffna Commander Maj. Gen G.A. Chandrasiri and also assessed the ground situation with field commanders.

After these visits the kilaali and Kilinochchi multi - front operation plans were executed, by two Brigades (53-1 and 53-2) of the 53 Division headed by Brigadier Kamal Gunaratne in Kilali front, three brigades (57-1, 57-2 and 57-3) of the 57 division headed by Maj. Gen Jegath dias in Malayaa'lapuram, Mu'rika'ndi, Pulikku'lam and Iranamadu fronts and Similarly Brig. Shavendra Silva led 58 Division advanced along the Pooneryn-Paranthan road (Kugnchupparanthan) with the Fifth Armoured Corp and the infantry regiments operating under this Division. Three frontline assault divisions (53, 57 and 58) were handpicked for this latest operation.

The elite 53 Division consisting of 53-1 air mobile brigade, the 53-2 independent brigade of Special Forces commandos, 53-3 of special armour (now it is an independent brigade) and the infantry of 53-4. The military objectives were ultimately to open a door to recapture the Elephant pass military complex—a key strategic position at the gateway to the Jaffna peninsula which the military lost in April 2000 and proceeding to Killinochchi.

It was past midnight, at around 1:30 a.m., that the military operation commenced in Kilaali front. It was initially a night (stealth) operation. Jaffna SF Commander General Chandrasiri was in touch with the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 53 Division, Brigadier Kamal Gunaratne, who was led the Kilaali front.

Infantry from 5 GW, 1 VIR and 6 GR of the Air Mobile Brigade (AMB) of the 53 Division, were move out of their FDLs in Kilaali, to launch this surprise attack but waves of troop attacks were beaten back by LTTE infantry men. Several soldiers were killed in the bunkers and trenches along this line. The LTTE used mortars, mines and snipers in many places to cause damage. Troops who stepped on Johnny mines, not only lost their legs, but the action sparked off claymore mines and 60mm motor shells. Improvised Explosive Devices were also used by the LTTE, who had dug up trenches and pits to trap troops.

From around 9.30 a.m., the 53 Division began withdrawing. By 10:30 a.m., the soldiers had gone back to their original positions. Learning from the lessons following the past misadventures at Muhamalai and Kilaali in last couple of years, the army is keen to keep the death toll and casualty figures as low as possible and withdrew as quickly as possible.

More than 40 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and at least 160 soldiers wounded when the LTTE repulsed an offensive, LTTE officials said, they seized vast quantity of arms and recovered dead bodies of the SLA. The SLA has admitted that 25 soldiers were killed, 10 soldiers were missing and around 160 soldiers sustained injuries in the fighting on Tuesday explaining that they made a 'tactical withdrawal' in Ki'laali.

Sources in Jaffna said that the SLAF helicopters were seen engaged in transporting casualties and injured soldiers while Kandy road and Palaali road were blocked several times during the day enabling ambulances to carry the dead and injured to Palaali hospital.

The SLA directed artillery and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) on LTTE territory. The LTTE counter artillery barrage hit Mirusuvil and Usan army rear bases. The attackers had been further handicapped army to evacuate their injured soldiers.

While these waves of attacks were taking place, other two divisions were started their push in Killinochchi front. The most decisive battle for Paranthan and Kilinochchi has been commenced around 5.30am on Tuesday. The 57 and 58 Divisions launched a simultaneous attack on the "L" shaped 6 km long bund surrounding Paranthan and Pooneryn. While SLA used artillery and multi-barrel rocket fire to neutralize LTTE counter attacks the 57 Division took heavy beat.

The Air Force too engaged LTTE positions in support of the ground troops. Using the familiarity of the ground to their advantage, the LTTE virtually cornered the Infantry battalions with a heavy rain of mortar and artillery fire. Troops from SLSR CLI, GW and GR were beaten back.

The LTTE officials in Wanni said that 130 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed in the multi-front offensive push by the SLA in Ki'linochchi on Tuesday. More than 300 soldiers were wounded in the heavy battle that raged throughout the day till 4:00 p.m. on four main localities and along a wide stretch of the Ki'linochchi frontiers.

36 dead bodies of the SLA soldiers have been recovered so far, 28 in Ki'linochchi and 8 in Ki'liaali, in the clearing missions following Tuesday's fighting. 10 dead bodies of the SLA soldiers were recovered by the Tigers Tuesday evening. 8 more bodies were recovered later and 10 further recovered Wednesday. There were more dead bodies lying between the LTTE and SLA defence lines, according to the reports from Wanni.

Interestingly, photographs of the dead bodies of the Sri Lankan soldiers, recovered by the LTTE, has exposed that the Colombo is using Sinhalese child soldier in its offensive front in Wanni. This is clearly indicated that the army has faced lack of man power to holding its positions. The Tigers have seized several weapons in the clearing mission.

The security forces airlifted casualties by helicopter from Kilaali to Palaly and Killinochchi to Vavunia and Mannar. Casualties were also transported by roads as well. According to information received by this column, injured soldiers are being treated at Palaly, Vavuniya, Anuradhapura, Polanaruwa, Trinco and Colombo hospitals.

Intercepted army transmissions have revealed that troops have faced problems over evacuating the wounded due to heavy motor fire and booby traps. The danger of anti personnel mines and booby traps which were displaced from their original positions in recent days have further complicated the ground situation. For an example deputy commander of the 20th Sinha Regiment belonging to 63-2 Brigade Maj. Priyantha Liyanage was stepped on a Johnny anti-personnel mine in Olumadu area and lost a leg.

While main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles continued to provide support to the evacuation mission, there is a possibility for Victor Anti -Tank Regiment will be step up its counter offensive soon.

The figures according to army, they lost around 100 soldiers in Kilinochchi and Paranthan fighting, 80 soldiers were killed and another 24 have gone missing. Total SLA casualty figures in Ki'linochchi and Jaffna frontiers for the past two days stand at around 145 soldiers killed and further 300 being wounded and most of them requiring emergency amputations, altogether 42 were declared MIA.

When 12 SLSR suffered heavy casualties in the Ki'linochchi front 6GR suffered badly in the Kilaali front. Circles close to the Defence Ministry told casualty figures that much higher than official version. Bulk of the SLA casualties on Kilali operation were caused by artillery fire which rained on advancing troops. On Paranthan and Kilinochchi fronts however, close quarters fighting caused heavy damage. When troops retreated to base, the LTTE fired 81 mm, Samathnam and 120 mm mortars at them.

The Overall operation was coordinated by Col. Theepan, who is now appointed as a special counter operation commander of the overall Wanni operation. Now he had developed its own counter battle plans to beat back the forces in the event of an operation. The truth is there was a better coordination and the support of the indirect fire was obtained. The Ponnammaan Mines Corps of the LTTE had set up its mines and booby traps in key locations. They began to take a toll in several fronts. Three frontline divisions suffered heavy losses.

In the battle plans, it appears that the army did not anticipate such a counter offensive strategy by the LTTE. This operation was the first in which so the military had lost multi-front task within 48 hours. Battle plans are usually drawn up for military advantage and that should be the only consideration. But in Sri Lanka, they are drawn up for political advantage. It appears the operation was conducted in a hurry before the end of this year. The entire operation was well-planned on paper but it was the implementation that went wrong.

After these latest failed offensive, Air Force fighter jets and MI-24 helicopters stepped up aerial attacks on the Kilinochchi town and its suburbs, they carried out at least five air raids since at 7.30 am on Wednesday, A 5-month-old child and a 25-year-old male were killed and 13 other displaced civilians including three children were wounded in this attack. The government said, the jets were raided the LTTE installations but it is not true.

Then again the heaviest fighting took place at Pudumurippu, west of Killinochchi town on Wednesday (17). The LTTE officials said that they seized vast quantity of arms and recovered 12 dead bodies of the SLA. According to the latest information, total SLA casualty figures in Ki'linochchi and Jaffna frontiers for the past two days stand at around 165 soldiers killed and further 470 being wounded and 38 bodies were recovered.

But government systematically concealed the war casualties from the battle fronts. The scale of this propaganda has been so great that many people in the south have been taken in and believed that ‘victory’ over the LTTE was imminent. This focus about winning the war instilled buoyancy in the public mood, which has helped the Rajapaksa regime to help contain resentment over the rising cost of living, inflation, economic disastrous, corruption, mismanagement, etc.

Apart from this, the government has the additional advantage of enhance its political image. But, it was too obvious that the whole affair could not be concealed. The Tamil international websites posted pictures of security forces personnel bodies, guns and other military equipment left behind.

From previous operations, the army learnt it the hard way. Battalions of infantrymen advancing into LTTE-held territory could be disastrous. Hence, a different strategy of small groups of elite forces is using now. But, in the southern neck of the peninsula and Killinochchi fronts, this tactics could be also a graveyard for Sinhala youths, which was proved in this week.

The Sinhala people of this country have been the targets of a sustained propaganda barrage claiming that everything was hunky-dory for the regime in the ongoing war against the LTTE. But the recent battle shows that it is a bubble and it will burst in any time. The Sinhala people need to be Pay attention regarding the government false propaganda or Pay the price. - Sri Lanka Guardian

The LTTE started this round of fighting after the 2002 ceasefire. So the terrorists deserve what they get. The world does not even give a damn about you guys.

YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW!!!

Now your leaders are putting pressure on the TN politicians who are on the LTTE payroll for a ceasefire. Remember its Delhi that calls the shots, not Chennai.

As the old saying goes, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

As for the 3 Tamils generations who you claim "support" the LTTE .... keep dreaming. Already the SL Tamil population is declining in Lanka. Soon they will be less than 3% of the country's population, you can thank VP for sending your women and children to die on the battlefield for the past 25 years. What a fool!

There is a reason why every country protects women and children first since the ancient times,...... just stop and think... how many women can a male get pregnant in one year....and how many children a woman can give birth to in one year?

Get the picture yet? Biologically speaking... men are more expendable than women and children. You terrorist morons have been shooting yourselves in the foot demographically for over 25 years, now the SL Tamil population is declining due a low birth rates(not a surprise) and emmigration to other countries.

To be honest Tamils have always had a low birth rate compared to other groups(even in India), but putting women and children to die in battle for 25 years was the final nail in the coffin.

Oh, and BTW, if you guys are banking on the TN Tamil population to replenish your population, keep dreaming, already the TN Tamil birth rate(1.8) is below replacement level(2.1) and its decling even further. Tamils have the second lowest birth rates in India.-----------------------------------

TNA Monkey for Batticaloa says about a number development programmes funded by USAID in the East:[At the surface they may look attractive, because people of the East, through the military might of the Sri Lanka government, are now reduced to accept whatever that comes as relief. They have no means of planning for themselves based on their own perspectives or no infrastructure to convert the ‘development’ to their own integrity, without becoming slaves for the hierarchy of the larger systems, operating from Colombo and Washington.]Translation: Since SLDF chased our LTTE monkey brothers there have been a lot of developement efforts started in the East. This looks bad for Monkey God Praba because the only development he did was to dig mud ditches for his gang to hide in.

Tamil film director Seeman was arrested on Friday, once again for an inflammatory speech. This time he justified the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, besides euologising the LTTE at a December 14 meeting in Erode.

Besides Seeman, who was picked up from a shooting site in Genguvarpatti village near Theni, Periyar Dravida Kazhagam president Kolathur Mani and Tamil Desiya Pothu Udamai Katchi general secretary Maniarasan, both of whom shared the stage with the director, were also arrested on a day that saw high drama unfolding at different places.

In Chennai, a car parked in Seeman’s house in Venkateshan Nagar was damaged by unidentified miscreants, he was burnt in effigy by Youth Congress activists at Gokulam point on Arcot Road and several top Congress leaders met police and other officials demanding his arrest.

While Mani was picked up from his house in Mettur, Maniarasan, was picked up in T Nagar. In Cuddalore, activists of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) clashed with Youth Congress workers.

The arrests, however, came about only after Congress leaders put pressure on the government. TNCC president K V Thangkabalu urged the Chief Minister to order Seeman’s arrest and Youth Congress leader Mayura Jayakumar gave a petition to the West Zone IGP at Coimbatore The Erode police later produced Seeman and Kolathur Mani before the judicial magistrate in Erode who ordered for their remand till December 31. They were charged under section 13 (1) b, Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act 1967 and IPC 505 (creating rumours against the state and army).

Later, talking to newspersons, Seeman said that he did not speak in support of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination and asserted that speaking in support of Tamil Eelam would not create any problem in the country..

Seeman was earlier arrested, along with another film director Ameer for his speeches at Rameswaram.]

What Arush from Wales, like other deluded LTTE supporters, don't realize is that however many casualties they inflict on our troops, or our civilians (100,000 and counting), they will never get the Sinhala people to accept the division of our motherland, and this war will continue until the LTTE is rooted out from the motherland.

For over 2,500 years foreign enemies have invaded our country, fertilized our land with their blood, and ultimately departed without trace, without any profit or permanent presence.

A statement by an invading Chola king, inscribed in stone upon his landing in Sri Lanka states, "The Codagama Deva landed here in the Unconquerable Lanka...." reflects the widely held view then that Sri Lanka could never be conquered. The National Archives of Portugal in Lisbon, contains a report from the Governor of Portuguese Colonies in the East to the Potuguese Crown, that recommends abandoning Portuguese presence in Sri Lanka because fighting against the Sinhala people in Sri Lanka costs Portugal more than all of the other Portuguese colonies put together!

Therefore, it is not by accident that the Sinhala people have survived all these challenges from within and without. It is by the blood of our fabled defending heroes, and is a testament to their fighting abilities, and never-say-die spirit, and survival instincts. What you are seeing today, is the same willingness of our heroes to die for the motherland, if they must. The LTTE will have to kill every one of us before they can succeed in creating an Eelam in this resplesdent land of ours.

So, be assured, the LTTE will never succeed in Sri Lanka; instead they will only destroy their own.

to golden eagle:do u know how much is the Israeli population in Israel:do u know how many women/men be a reserve army?do u know how they get their own land?do u know who is washington? do u know his battle strats, against the powerfull english army.

do u know who is Nelson Mandela to the british gov long time ago..do u know who he is now to them..

do u have any idea where the this country history**Eritrea,Kosovo,Israel,Palatine**

You guys are getting assscrewed and all that the nattamis next door can do abt it is just howl at the moon..where are all the Chola armies of your imagination? There aren't any. In fact when those Paki teenage ninjas massacred hundreds of their own people, there was no one trained enough in TN to stop them.

YOu guys are fcked. So it is time you came to your senses and got back to where you truly belong; go cut my grass, podiyen and ask your wife Letchumi to make me some tea.

What makes the Chief Justice give political orders from the bench? Is this guy losing his marbles, or are they the result of fundamental rights petitions filed by various individuals or groups?

Either way, the guys is trespassing into areas in which he should not be involved in. His job is to interpret the Law and not to make new ones, or issue executive decisions. Those two functions belong to the parliament and the President.

This guy makes the judiciary appear to be irrational and will make it lose credibility. It could also mean he is having illusions of granduer, a somewhat common psychological phenomenon for people who reach power beyomd their intellectual capacity. Either he'll need to be roped in or replaced by someone more rational.

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